You're Not Fooling Anyone
by Alittlemorecreative
Summary: They're hardly what you'd call subtle, but lately it's getting increasingly difficult to hide their feelings GENDERBENT PERCABETH set after BoTL. More details inside.Rated T just in case.


**AN: Genderbent percabeth.  
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**Percy Jackson = Alison 'ali' Jackson ( I didn't want to go the typical Persephone/ perci way )**

**Annabeth chase = Perseus 'percy' Chase**

**So basically this is a series of events taking place from after BoTL uptil TLO. Some romance, awkwardness, fun stuff and sad stuff. I've tried to keep it mostly canon with a few OCs with minor roles. This first chapter is basically an introduction to give an idea about Percy and Ali's personalities ( again, they're mostly canon with a few twists and tweaks) and the stage their relationship is currently on.  
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**Some spellings may be different because of my location.**

**enjoy! ;)**

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**PERCY**

Ali Jackson was a flirt.

It was a common known fact really. Not like she went around flirting with every guy she saw, she just generally _flirted_. It was just her entire personality.

The playful smirks, mischievous winks and her general body language – the dramatic hand gestures when she was narrating an incident , the way she skipped while walking when she was happy… just _her . _

That was the best and worst part about her , she made everyone feel special - at least to her. But that meant you never knew if you were actually special for her.

Recently I had come to the obvious realization that despite years of denial and friend-zoning , I– Perseus Chase , son of Athena –may have fallen for my best friend. _Hard._

Pushing those thoughts away, I made my way to the arena. I'd been looking for the aforementioned best friend all morning, as we were supposed to co-teach a sword class today, but as per norm , she'd disappeared off the surface of the planet. Knowing her, ( and of course I knew her way too well for my own good ) she was probably catching up on the latest marine gossip with the dolphins , or by the creek , just thinking or talking to the dryads and nymphs.

I cautiously stepped into the arena – Mrs.O'Leary had the incurable habit of playfully pouncing on unsuspecting campers, but nothing happened. No giant happy hellhound came bounding up to give me a bath with dog drool and a second later I discovered why. Ali was sitting cross- legged on the floor, gently stroking the huge furry head on her lap.

Of course, I should have known.

Mrs. O'Leary had been understandably distraught after Daedalus 's death, and so every morning someone or other had walked into the arena to find the daughter of Poseidon curled up sleeping against the giant dog.

She was dressed in her usual I'm-a-rebellious-teenager-whatcha-gonna-do-about-it style; a slashed up top and short shorts. She looked up as I got closer.

"Hey" I said, trying not to sound awkward.

"Hi" she replied, giving me small smile – which by her standards was a normal people smile (as opposed to her usual 100 watt grin).

Things had been awkward between us ever since the end of last summer, due to certain….. complications.

Hence most of our meetings had gone somewhat like this. Sometimes (mostly) worse.

"Um .. should I come back later?" I looked up to see a new camper (child of Hermes possibly, or maybe just unclaimed) idling at the entrance looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah we can you know." Silena Beauregard appeared beside him, smirking. "If you want to continue flirting."

We both blushed. Ali got to her feet "Don't annoy me in a room full of weapons, Silena."

The older girl laughed and gave her a quick hug as greeting.

"We should probably start class." Ali turned back to me after beckoning the newbie and some other campers behind him in.

"Uh yeah." I said intelligently, ignoring the look Silena was giving me.

We'd taken classes together before, so this one went about the same as usual – Ali being funny by lightly teasing everyone and making inappropriate jokes, while I discussed techniques.

The campers – a mix of newbies, regulars and some senior councilors who were watching and shaking their heads at Ali's antics – of course loved her. Out of the three main sword classes that were held in a rotation each week (taken by either Ali, Clarisse or me, or sometimes other volunteers), hers was unanimously the favourite.

She just had that perfect witty, approachable yet no-nonsense when it was required attitude that intimidated yet drew everyone to her.

"All right, bye losers. Get lost. I don't want to see you till next class." This was her typical end of class pep talk which was greeted by the same grins and eye- rolls.

I waited until most people had left, to make a lame attempt at conversation.

"So what have you been up to? " Smooth Percy, I mentally face-palmed.

She looked up wide- eyed, as if trying to remember if she'd done something wrong in the past couple of days. I tried hard to ignore how adorable she looked.

Instead I said, "It's okay, I wasn't talking about you breaking into Chiron's office and destroying his gods-awful music collection."

"Nah, I haven't done that. Yet. "

We both laughed and she looked away for a second before glancing back with a smile.

It had been a long time since we'd attempted normal, friendly conversation (at least it seemed like a long time to me).

"Uh listen-"

"Ali! You have got to see this! Sammy just.."

Katie Gardiner ran up to them and shook Ali's shoulders excitedly.

"Oh hey Perce." She stopped when she saw me.

"Hi." I looked at Ali, "I should probably go. I- uh.."

"Yeah no it's- it's cool. I'll see you later."

Katie glanced between us curiously but didn't comment.

I left the two girls to laugh over whatever Sammy **(oc) **had done this time and decided to go to the library to clear my head. **(AN: Let's assume that the big house has a totally awesome basement library, created due to extreme demand from the Athenians) **I tried to absorb myself in mythology, but a certain green-eyed girl refused to leave my thoughts, behaving as stubbornly as real, live Alison.

These past couple of months had been tense for us, yet sometimes there would be_ moments._

I winced at how girly that sounded and then thought of Ali arguing that there was nothing wrong with being a girl and how society needed to stop categorizing all women as feminine ( yep who would have thought Ali to be a feminist).

Back to the point, sometimes we got along really well, almost….well _couple-y _. But we weren't ( a couple ) obviously. Not with Luke and Rachel and everything else that was going on.

It was _frustrating_.

I wouldn't ever admit this out loud, but I missed her. Talking to her, like we used to. But at the same time, I didn't want to go back to the way we were, I wanted to move forward. Slowly, but in that general direction at least.

Finally I gave up pretending to read and leaned back against the sofa with my hands pressed over my eyes. Ali Jackson has really messed me up, I thought with a sigh.

I'm not sure if it's good or bad that I didn't mind.

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**If you liked it please click on that beautiful button down there and review for a cookie (::)But really, I'd love to hear feedback!  
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**Have a great day :)**


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